Arizona Shooting Victims vs. Fred Phelps: Who Does God Love More?

You'll be excused today for thinking there isn't possibly a more depraved human being in America than Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of shooting 20 people in Tucson, Arizona, killing a 9-year-old girl and putting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in intensive care. You'd be wrong, but you'd be excused.

That dubious honor goes to Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church (aka the God Hates Fags church), who hopped right on YouTube to "thank God for the violent shooter, one of your soldier heroes in Tucson." Oh, and he doesn't care how many are dead! He's taking the whole klan clan to picket their funerals. Yes, including Christina Taylor Green. Wouldn't want to leave out a defenseless 9-year-old, now would we?

Warning, if you have any respect for the sanctity of life or yourself for that matter, you probably don't want to click on the video below. Or at least keep a barf bucket handy.

If you know anything about Phelps and crew, you had to see this coming. He's the same guy who dubbed President Obama the "anti-Christ" and has picketed funerals of American soldiers for such "atrocities" as having divorced parents, and the late Elizabeth Edwards for daring to have a child die in a car accident before her own death. Neither common sense nor respect is their strong suit.

Phelps' decision to praise cold-blooded killings when he purports to be a pastor and ostensibly supports all Ten Commandments -- including that gem "thou shalt not kill" -- is so twisted you'd be better off sitting down with a Rubik's Cube this afternoon, throwing on a blindfold, and trying to solve it. You'd be further ahead. Trying to reason this one out is impossible. Trust me, I've tried. It made my head hurt worse than a bad hangover, and there's no hair of the dog to cure this one.

The media and the police alike are bound to spend months trying to figure out why Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a Safeway on Saturday and shot 20 people. But we don't need to spend another moment trying to understand Fred Phelps.